----- Original Message -----
From: KAREN DALE<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
To: Poldi Tonin<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 4:45 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] Depression Babies and their Greatest Generation Parents
The lowest birth year in US history after records were kept was 1933--a very special group.
We were also the silent generation in a literal sense--squeezed between the Greatest and the Boomers, we didn't say much about life as we were growing up! Besides, as you say, life was pretty good. The war was over, families were reunited, the economy was booming... Why complain?
----- Original Message -----
From: Poldi Tonin<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 1:54 PM
Subject: [VA-ROOTS] Depression Babies and their Greatest Generation Parents
Our parents are labeled, thanks to newsman Tom Brokaw , the Greatest
Generation when he wrote his book about the WWII era.
We their children born during the Depression are labeled The Silent
Generation. Our contribution to the world is held in the works of Gandhi,
King, and other folks who followed the peaceful path to a civilized world.
We are called the Silent Generation because there were so few of us. Only
starry-eyed young folks opted to marry and have children during these
difficult years.
Mama reports that I was the only baby in the hospital when I was born.
We grew up with a small knowledge of hard times, if we were lucky. Those who
remember really hard time, such as living on the streets during the winters
in the mid-west and knowing their daddies stand in line all day in the same
cold weather hoping for a day's work, were not so lucky.
With the shortage of jobs, married women lost their jobs if they were not
able to conceal their married status. Families gathered together and shared
one home. Mama who always had a green thumb grew food in her garden of
abundance and always had a pot of soup or stew available for the men who
were looking for work and starving as they traveled from from town to town.
They placed an X on the electricity pole in front of our house which
indicated to other men that food was available at this house. I remember
mama serving the men in the backyard and they were always very grateful and
polite. Not the picture folks want to paint of Hobos today. Mama could not
afford to give them work and pay; but, she certainly could share from her
garden of abundance.
Please remember the hungry of today and donate to Meals on Wheels which
provides the only food many of the Greatest Generation and Silent Generation
will have on this day. One small plate which they divide into two portions
and hence two very, very small meals. Help them to maintain their dignity as
they struggle to remain in their homes or apartments and cope with physical
afflictions. One of these Greatest Generation may be your neighbor who you
never see.
I wonder how many of us are pack-rats due to deprivations of the Depression?
Tree Mother
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html
|
